Things No One Tells You About Seattle

Gaming

I was rarely ever able to play video games – my siblings had a gamecube and I would play with them occasionally when they needed an extra. It wasn’t something that girls (girls being defined as “Kierstyn” because my sisters were all young and playing – but that might have had more to do with them being young and it being an easy distraction) don’t do and are not good at – let alone enjoy.

Video games are something girls are supposed to get bored and annoyed by, and blow off, and become irritated with boys for playing them. Video games are for boys because…combat? and girls don’t have the necessary eye-hand coordination (by default, because girls can’t do the same thing boys do, obvs) for playing Call of Duty or Need For Speed.

I wasn’t allowed to play video games because I was supposed to be preparing to be a wife and mother – raise my siblings, do the chores, cook the meals, wash the laundry. My mom kept me busy like the evil stepmother in Cinderella, anytime I had a spare moment that I could (or happened to fill in and) play a video game, there was another list of chores for me to do. They’ve never used the words “girls can’t play video games” but it was heavily implied and emphasized, at least as far as I was concerned. It still is, actually, broadly speaking – it bothers me how the game industry still caters almost solely to male audiences even though there are a ton of gamers who happen to be female. Girls are supposed to find their boyfriends playing video games annoying, not enjoy the games themselves and NOT, certainly NOT, be more of an avid gamer than their spouse.